All that glitters isn’t gold. And all that’s copied isn’t Pritam. And that, my dear friends, is the ugly truth! So, we decided to blow the whistle on all the plagiarized tracks that sneaked their way into our music industry this year.

Every year, as the Copy Pasters United Club eagerly hounds Pritam for a lifetime membership, dozens of musicians slyly borrow bits and pieces from their Western counterparts. Hard as it is to digest, the year 2012 alone saw enough ‘inspired’ tracks to give the Copyright Police a cardiac arrest.

Balma, Khiladi 786

Plagiarizing is a risky task at the best of times. However, when the band you discreetly copy pasted from decides to pay your country a visit, you know you are in hot water! The hit pop music duo LMFAO may be keyed up about their tour to India early next year, but we wonder how amused they will be when they get an earful of Balma, Khiladi 786’s claim to item girl fame. Himesh Reshammiya may have tried to disguise it with loud lyrics and electro beats, but you don’t have to be a highly specialized detective at Scotland Yard to point out that it has been blatantly ripped off from I’m Sexy And I Know It!

Challa, Jab Tak Hai Jaan

It isn’t everyday that the names Gulzar, A R Rahman and Yash Chopra come together for a movie project, and so it was with ill concealed glee that we descended on Jab Tak Hai Jaan’s musical offering. Imagine how quickly our excitement dried up when we realized that the movie’s poster wasn’t the only thing the makers copied. Much as we all love humming to Challa, the song sadly bears an uncanny resemblance to Save Tonight, a popular 1997 song by Eagle Eye Cherry, the famous Swedish musician.

Deewana Kar Raha Hai, Raaz 3

We have to hand this one to the Bhatts. After carving themselves a well earned name in the world of copyright violation with their string of inspired scripts and posters, they have expanded their interests to songs as well. Although, this time they have outdone themselves; even before the Raaz 3’s music album was officially released, music connoisseurs were crying foul over the way Deewana Kar Raha Hai’s tune had been lifted from Egyptian singer Mohamed Hamaki's track Ana law azeto (If I Had Hurt Her).

O Baawariya, Khiladi 786

We, Indians, may be a lot of things but we are nothing if not meticulous. Take for instance, Himesh Reshammiya. When he decided to borrow from other artistes, he decided to the job properly – After taking a leaf from LMFAO’s book, the music composer simply scrolled down his iPod list and decided that Alexandra Stan wouldn’t mind him borrowing from her 2011 hit dance number, Mr. Saxobeat. With the result that Khiladi 786 has earned pride of place in our today’s list with O Baawariya, whose background score is too close to Mr. Saxobeat to pass off as innocent coincidence.

Know of any such Bollywood songs that have been shamelessly borrowed from the West? Tell us in the comments!